The idea, of zapping one's skin with electricity, might seem bizarre from a biology perspective. Our bodies aren't circuits, and electrical shocks can hurt, even kill us; so why would electricity promote healing? And what would make such an idea even occur to researchers in the first place?  It turns out that scientists got the idea because skin cells are electrotactic, meaning they move in the direction of an electric field. In other words, if skin cells are floating around randomly in a petri dish, and an electric field appears in the dish, the cells begin moving in the same direction. Roughly speaking, an electric field works on the cells similarly to how a shepherd dog works to control the motion of a once-randomly-moving group of sheep.

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